I hope this is the right place to post this. I have a trip computer in my car that I wish to use/repurpose, but I have fitted a different ECU, and changed the size of the injectors, etc. This means that the data it displays is either missing or just downright wrong. I have searched online for any information about driving similar bare LCDs, but have not found very much.Using Microchip and Atmel app notes as well as this I have a pretty basic idea of how to physically drive the screen, but my problem is in trying to identify which pins are backplanes and which are segments and how many of each there are. The LCD has 26 pins, two appear not connected to anything on the original PCB and two are connected to each other. The LCD has 42 segments as far as I can tell, but that's about as much information as I've been able to glean from it. Have any of you had any experience trying to drive a similar LCD? Any information you can provide would be great.Thanks.

When a capacitor is empty, it acts like a short. (check with a multimeter if you don't believe this)

We don't have the Obvious luxury of your Magnificent Test Laboratory, and clearly not Sample and Hold Ohmmeters"Every time I measure one it just reads whatever capacity is marked on the case. I know that new parts are not defective very often so why bother for 'shorts' and since a good capacitor (By your definition is 'shorted' can you please tell me how to make that obviously 'new' measurement? ... Please?

Bob

--> WA7EMS "The solution of every problem is another problem." -Johann Wolfgang von GoetheI do answer technical questions PM'd to me with whatever is in my clipboard

Use a simple analog ohm meter and test a capacitor. The needle will flick towards the 0, then quickly increase.

Now I know it's not a short like you would imagine with a wire and a battery. The point is the initial charge current into a capacitor is high. Connecting a capacitor directly to a uC pin could easily allow a current to flow that is higher than the specs. Although it would be very brief, it would cause damage to the pin which over time would cause the pin to fail.

Same thing with connecting a mosfet directly to a uC pin. A series resistor never hurts.